BY BEN VERDE AND JOE HITI
Ninth Street business owners
say their bottom line is suffering
due to a lack of parking
spaces on the two-way strip,
thanks in part to rampant illegal
parking by United States
Postal Service employees and
a new road design that restricts
double parking.
“There should be a lot of cars
pulling in and out on that block,
but we walk down the block and
every other car has a postal
hat and shirts in the window,”
said Lauren Kotsis, owner of
the Bagel Pup, which is located
one door down from the Ninth
Street post offi ce.
The parking spaces on Ninth
Street are metered, but USPS
employees – whose placard
abuse along the east-west thoroughfare
has been well documented
in the Brooklyn Paper –
skirt regulations by displaying
agency merchandise on their
dashboards, leading NYPD meter
maids to give them a pass
and creating an unfair system
that is harming small businesses,
according to Kotsis.
“We’re paying $300 for a
Community Center
2102 Avenue T
Fri. Night 4:15PM • Sat. 10AM
COURIER L 24 IFE, DEC. 6-12, 2019
parking space so we don’t illegally
park or double park,” she
said. “They should get to work
early like everybody else.”
USPS previously stripped
Ninth Street employees of their
placards after the Brooklyn
Paper uncovered widespread
abuse – but employees have
now resorted to leaving hats or
patches in their windows.
Jacob Tupper, a 29-year-old
Greenpoint resident who passed
by the Post Offi ce on Wednesday,
was outraged when he noticed
USPS employees hogging
spots on Ninth Street.
“It makes it harder for business
to get done,” he said. “I
mean I believe in getting the
mail, but taking advantage of
it makes it harder for everyone
who lives and works there.”
A Post Offi ce rep told Councilman
Brad Lander’s (D–Park
Slope) offi ce that local USPS
management would double
down on internal enforcement
and reprimand employees who
parked illegally, according
a spokeswoman for the lawmaker.
The USPS and the NYPD did
not respond to requests for comment
by deadline.
Further complicating
things, a 2018 road redesign
added a bike lane and narrowed
the driving lane, making
it impossible to double park and
quickly run into a business.
“Nobody can even pull
over anymore,” said Larry,
the owner of Fifth Avenue Key
Store, located on Ninth Street,
who would only give his fi rst
name. “I used to have customers
that would say ‘all-right,
wait in the car for a minute
while I get a key.’ They can’t do
that anymore.”
The protected bike lane on
Ninth Street was upgraded
from a standard bike lane in
2018, as part of a series of safety
upgrades the city implemented
after a horrifi c crash at Fifth
Avenue left two children dead
and sent three adults — including
a pregnant woman who
later miscarried — to the hospital.
Larry said he’s not against
a bike lane in front of the store,
but that he wishes the road design
had left space for double
parking. Ever since the redesign,
Larry says traffi c to his
store has dropped off dramatically.
“They don’t come in no
more because there’s no place
to park,” he said. “This used to
be one of the busiest stores in
this area. If they can’t stop for
just a second they’re not gonna
come in.”
Post offi ce employee puts a t-shirt
on their dash to avoid getting a
ticket. Photo by Joe Hiti
Jacob Tupper gave postal workers a big thumbs down for hogging parking
on Ninth Street. Photo by Joe Hiti
Postal workers illegal parking
hurting small businesses in Slope
Invitation for the Shabbat
Beth Aaron Synagogue
of Sheepshead Bay – 2261 Bragg Street
in conjunction with
Rabbi Jacob London
Jewish Boys Yeshiva Gedolah
And
Congregation Talmud Torah
The Jewish Community is invited to join us
for Shabbat Services and Meals
We wish all our neighbors and friends a
Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Sorcher
718-646-9368
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